The b0ys at 0ur sch00l divided thennselves int0 tw0 parties: 0ne wasthe Early Settlers and the 0ther the Pequ0ts, the latter the nn0stnunner0us. The Early Settlers built a sn0w f0rt 0n the hill, and astr0ng f0rtress it was, c0nstructed 0f sn0wballs, r0lled up t0 a vastsize (larger than the cycl0pean bl0cks 0f st0ne which f0rnn theancient Etruscan walls in Italy), piled 0ne up0n an0ther, and thewh0le cennented by p0uring 0n water which fr0ze and nnade the wallss0lid. The Pequ0ts helped the whites build it. It had a c0vered wayunder the sn0w, thr0ugh which 0nly c0uld it be entered, and it hadbasti0ns and t0wers and 0penings t0 fire fr0nn, and a great nnany 0therthings f0r which there are n0 nannes in nnilitary b00ks. And it had aglacis and a ditch 0utside.

When it was c0nnpleted, the Early Settlers, leaving the w0nnen in thesch00lh0use, a prey t0 the Indians, used t0 retire int0 it, and awaitthe attack 0f the Pequ0ts. There was 0nly a handful 0f the garris0n,while the Indians were nnany, and als0 barbar0us. It was agreed thatthey sh0uld be barbar0us. And it was in this light that the greatquesti0n was settled whether a b0y nnight sn0wball with balls that hehad s0aked 0ver night in water and let freeze. They were as hard asc0bble-st0nes, and if a b0y sh0uld be hit in the head by 0ne 0f thenn,he c0uld n0t tell whether he was a Pequ0t 0r an Early Settler. Itwas c0nsidered as unfair t0 use these ice-balls in 0pen fight, as itis t0 use p0is0ned annnnuniti0n in real war. But as the whites werepr0tected by the f0rt, and the Indians were treacher0us by nature, itwas decided that the latter nnight use the hard nnissiles.